2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS – Top 100 Countdown

LJ you and I could co run both polls if youre up for it? We just run them at the same time

Yes, yes they do.

You know the metal poll rollout is alive and well when gyac is posting in it. :)

let's sort this poll out first then see

You know the metal poll rollout is alive and well when gyac is posting in it. :)

This is impressive and I voted for it in the backhalf of my ballot, but I found it a bit too monochromatic for it's length so it didn't wow me like Das Tor and some of the other demos did.

Tbf I think the metal poll is a good place for beefs.

xp

There is certainly an over-abundance of sausage

Im Wald is a self-consciously monomaniacal record and that's part of its appeal.

ever just like wanted to be in the cold woods

I've been detained with other matters sadly... but I'm here for the last bit. the Hail Spirit Noir was my #1.

Next up: ILM really worships these guys, huh?

*nervous laugh*

#6
Elder – Omens
493 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4214182015_10.jpg

https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/album/omens

Elder, detailed and gorgeous, have long been standard bearers for a modern take on proggy stoner rock. Previously flitting between lush dreamscapes and fuzzy riffs, their new outing explores a little more of their voice and a wider range of moods, bringing less thunder and shedding more light on the bubbles under the surface.

Clearer and trippier, Omens dials back the volume to let some explorative synths rise to the forefront. As a result, some of it feels a little dated and some of it is sort of timeless, switching between 60s BBC space noises and warm, searching tones. Ideas-heavy, the guitars are hard at work, creating a web of layered notes; tracks are both busy and dreamy, smooth and active, the guitars sprawling and noodling through intricate passages, riffs fluttering and decaying. A kind of nebulous nostalgia is part of the patchwork that makes up their sound; they avoid sounding kitschy when this is balanced with the warm modern production.

For all the thunder, which they're very comfortable with, the real gold is when they hold back; the record is in no rush to get to the heavy moments, managing to keep momentum through synth pulses and the low, understated throb of the drums. In doing so they embrace a palette that modern metal doesn't use as much, and by around the halfway point the ideas coalesce into a deep, brooding mood, which unfolds to be contemplative, reserved, and delicate.

https://thequietus.com/articles/28371-elder-omens-review

I wish they'd gone further down the kraut route of The Gold & Silver Sessions EP.

As it stands, I thought this was okay.

Agreed with that pom, but I do still love this new one. Would love for a full-length krautrock record tho.

totally, I loved that EP, but this did little for me.

How dull! Boring, droney stoner nonsense.

Just kidding, this progges it right up and I voted for it :)

Here's an incredible Easter Egg discovered by an ilxor:

At 5 minutes and 5 seconds into the 5th song on the band Elder's 5th album the song changes to a 5 bar cycle in 5/8.

― Noel Emits, Wednesday, 6 January 2021 09:49 (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

if that isn't the proggest single musical act of 2020 I'll be stunned

ngl, that's pretty cool.

Elder do emo very well. Their albums always take a few listens to sink in before the mood is undeniable and this was no exception.

Aaw that is a wonderful discovery xp

I'm letting the Slift play as I do real work/scroll ILM, and I must say it's pretty enjoyable, although if something like this is eligible I'm not sure why Garcia Peoples wouldn't also be eligible (longer solos I guess).

Elder was my #2. Wasn't really sure it qualified as metal at the time, but after seeing what ended up in the top 20 I can see it more than does.

Loved Imperial Triumphant, but liked the last one more. Destroyers of All is Ulcerate's best, but this one got a strong vote. The Paysage d'Hiver was a good one for long work sessions in quarantine, as was Fluisteraars.

I usully hate stoner rock/metal but the last two Elder albums are lovely. People in some quarters have really turned against them, whic is a shame but I'd rather they carried on in this direction

yeah Elder have suddenly gotten much better

(imo)

At this point I have very little hope for Intronaut, Enslaved, or Igorrr..

I like the direction they've taken, I'm just not 100% sold on the execution.

Not as enjoyable as 'Reflections of a Floating World' (remember - a 'Stoner Rock' genre NUMBER ONE in ILM metal poll, or 'how I stopped worrying, and embraced 'Heavy Rock' as part of the ILM Metal poll'), but very good indeed - mid ballot for me.

Any guesses as to the top 5?

5. Sweven
4. Oranssi Pazuzu
3. Mrs Piss
2. Kvelertak
1. Hum

Finland Mindclasm
Didn't You Guys Be A Pop Band 25 Years Ago
Elephants, So Many Elephants
Finland Mindclasm 2: This Time Shoegaze
An Actual Nazi

Catching up: love Slift, glad to finally listen to Ulcerate (and discover a) they're Kiwis and ii) have been around since 2002 wtf), Lowrider rules. I miss the days of my old job where I could listen to 2hr black metal albums sitting at my desk, dreaming of the frozen north.

If you'll allow a bit of long view foreshadowing, this album came out today and I'm fairly certain it'll be our #2 of 2021, after Anal Stabwound:

https://cdn.season-of-mist.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/500x500/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/S/t/Starmen-By-The-Grace-Of-Rock-N-Roll-CD-104271-1-1607408960_4.jpg

Would love to see Neptunian Maximalism show up but, uh, I'm gonna guess the other ilxor lovers of them did not turn out for this poll.

I voted it high, so would be surprised if it doesn't make an appearance at this point.

That makes me feel a little better!

Speak of the (Belgian) devil…

#5
Neptunian Maximalism – Éons
515 points, 12 votes, 4 #1 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1783556743_10.jpg

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ons

There are a lot of different ways you can combine jazz and metal (and avant-garde noise) to create something more powerful than any one of those elements on its own. Kevin Martin, best known these days as The Bug, led the late ’80s/early ’90s band God, whose albums pummeled and roared with help from Godflesh guitarist Justin Broadrick and various other folks, including John Zorn and Bill Laswell. Those two, of course, were 2/3 of Painkiller, along with ex-Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris; their early grindcore-skronk experiments will part your hair nicely, but the expansive soundscapes on Execution Ground are the real meat. On 2009’s Monoliths & Dimensions, Sunn O))) expanded their drone-metal soundscapes into the realm of spacy jazz, with strings, horns and even harp. Minnesota’s Combat Astronomy, while not as well known as these other acts, pack just as much of a punch.

Neptunian Maximalism is a Belgian ensemble, formed in 2018, that takes these same ideas and runs with them. They acknowledge influences that include Sunn O))), Earth, Aluk Todolo, Motorpsycho, Sun Ra and John Coltrane, and I’d add Miles Davis‘s 1970s work, Paul Schütze, some Peter Brötzmann projects, and even Magma to that list. Their music combines jazz, metal, tribal rhythms, and other sounds/concepts into a swirling, roaring whole that works best at epic length. Which is good, since their debut release, Éons, is a three-CD set running just over two hours.

https://burningambulance.com/2020/07/03/neptunian-maximalism/

SO MANY ELEPHANTS

A tour de force, really. My #8.

I'm guessing Oranssi Pazuzu for number 1 but it might be Hum in an upset.

I don't even really see the point in the entire 3rd disc and I voted for this. At its best it's completely astonishing

4 #1 votes is no mean feat.

My #1

I have not yet gotten to the end.

Amazing song titles too. I'm especially fond of 'To the Sun: HELIOZOAPOLIS - Les criosphinx sacrés d’Amon-Rê, protecteurs du cogito ergo sum animal'. Aka 'The Sacred Criosphinxes of Amon-Ra, Protectors of the Animal Cogito ergo sum'.

hell yeah, my #4, but I definitely considered putting it as #1 until trver heads prevailed.

There is simply too much maximalism.